Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
for subsequent investment, as information flows were set in motion
generating contacts and knowledge about business opportunities. Among
the 90 business immigrant families interviewed in Vancouver in 2002, edu-
cation was mentioned by over 40 percent as a leading factor precipitating
migration (Table 3.1).
12
The observations of a Taiwanese father who brought
his family to Canada three years after his son had begun his education in
Vancouver, bear repeating: 'My son came to study as an international stu-
dent. He has been here for five years. I came to visit him. He liked Canada
very much so we decided to apply for entry.' Children often begin their
education at high school, for Vancouver-area school boards have an entre-
preneurial view of foreign students whose fees subsidize educational serv-
ices that might not otherwise be funded (Kwak 2008; Waters 2008). High
school provides an entry point for moving on to a college or university
degree programme. Because the fee structure disproportionately penalizes
foreign students, there is a cost advantage to the family that immigrates to
Canada and pays domestic fees. While this incentive alone would be unlikely
to tip the scales toward migration, yet in combination with quality of life
and passport considerations it counts as a significant benefit.
Reasons for selecting a Canadian education are variable. Education in
Asia Pacific tends to emphasize 'force-feeding' and cramming before a reg-
ular sequence of examinations; there is little space for personal variation,
flexibility and creativity. Repeatedly parents identify the advantages of a
western education in terms of these characteristics, making schooling a
more creative and less stressful experience. At the same time there is a thin
line between creativity, spontaneity and what some parents see as unfo-
cussed classroom time. Criticism is regularly raised against the low expecta-
tions of homework, which contrasts markedly with the after-school
cramming services in East Asia.
13
One Taiwanese mother I interviewed who
was quite critical of what she regarded as lackadaisical schooling in Canada,
began 'Taiwanese school' once her young son returned home from his local
primary education. He started a second school day in mid-afternoon with
Taiwanese textbooks spread across the dining-room table under the watch-
ful eye of his mother.
But while many parents see the desirability of educational supplements,
not all are as personally motivated as this mother. The commercialization of
education, seen in the recruitment of foreign fee-paying students by school
boards, is repeated in the development of a remarkably broad formal and
informal education industry, offering after school, weekend and summer
programmes. In East and Southeast Asia education is highly competitive
and a key means of upward social mobility, so that families dedicate time
and resources to high levels of performance (Charney et al. 2003). Children
study for long hours under considerable stress to pass entrance examina-
tions to elite schools and to prepare themselves for the next rung on the
